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Heard a marketing director say 'any press is good press' after that pet food recall stunt. Still not sure I buy it.
Was at a networking mixer last Tuesday and overheard this guy from a mid-sized dog food company bragging about how their 'accidental' mislabeling scandal got them 3 million views on TikTok. He was dead serious saying the apology video they posted has more engagement than any of their ads ever did. I get that impressions matter in our line of work but aren't we past pretending blatant screw-ups are a strategy? The other side is maybe attention span is so short now that people forget the bad part after a week. Curious what this group thinks - does the 'any press' rule still hold up in 2024 or did that die with the old media?
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the_thomas1mo ago
Buddy of mine runs a small bakery in Portland and he had a batch of gluten-free muffins get mislabeled last year. Someone posted a photo, it blew up locally, news stations picked it up. He got like 5 days of brutal comments and lost two wholesale accounts that had been with him for years. Fast forward 6 months and he tells me the ONLY thing people remember is the "gluten-free" part and his regular sales actually went up a bit from the exposure. But he also says he spent so much time putting out fires during that week that he fell behind on an order for a wedding cake and almost lost that client too. Real MIXED bag honestly.
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jordanc322mo ago
Yeah but people forget that viral backlash often comes with lasting brand damage that doesn't show up in a 30 day analytics report.
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Oh come on, is it really that deep though? Most people move on to the next drama within a week and totally forget about it. Unless you're selling something people actually need, like groceries or toothpaste, the average customer probably won't even remember which brand got canceled last month.
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